Peter J. Parsons: pioneer of contaminant hydrogeology

Introduction

At the end of World War II, several nations embarked on the development of nuclear energy as a means of generating electricity. This created nuclear wastes that are today the subject of much technical investigation and popular discussion. It is the authors’ contention that contaminant hydrogeology was born and bred by these nuclear-energy laboratories in North America and Europe in the first decades following World War II.

Among the cadre of engineers and geoscientists who began the study of nuclear-waste disposal practices and consequences was C.V. Theis of the US Geological Survey (USGS). In 1951, Theis was appointed by the USGS as coordinator for waste disposal to the US Atomic Energy Commission (USAEC). This lead to the study of the fate of nuclear-waste liquids discharged to shallow pits, trenches and cribs at the Hanford, Oak Ridge, Savannah River sites and other USAEC facilities.

In a paper presented at a Japanese conference hosted by the United Nations’...

Peter J. Parsons: un pionero en la hidrogeología de contaminantes

Peter J. Parsons:污染水文地质学的先驱

Peter J. Parsons: pioneiro da hidrogeologia de contaminantes

Notes

Acknowledgements

Gordon L. Parsons has kindly provided the authors with details of his father’s life, along with the photograph in Fig. 1. W.F. (Bill) Merritt has provided additional details on Peter Parsons’ work at Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories. We appreciate the approval and cooperation of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) in the publication of this paper. AECL has supported the efforts to make available electronic copies of Parsons’ elegant and timeless reports.